PETER ZUMTHOR: KOLUMBA MUSEUM, COLOGNE

ESPAÑOL

"The notion that our work is an integral part of what we achieve takes us to the very limits our musings about the value of a work of art."

Peter Zumthor

The Kolumba Museum in Cologne, Germany, is a remarkable work of Swiss architect Peter Zumthor, a Pritzker Prize laureate. In a display of mastery and sensitivity, the architect manages to fuse the ruins of a destroyed  Catholic church, with modern, sober and minimalist architecture, and highly sensitive to the theme of the works it houses: religious art.

OVERVIEW

A church dedicated to St. Columba, located relatively close to the magnificent Cologne Cathedral, used to be the most important church of the diocese. Unfortunately, the building was completely devastated after the allied bombing that reduced the city into ruins during the Second World War, with the exception of an old Gothic image of the Virgin placed on a pillar, which survived intact.

Church of St. Columba before the bombing

The church after the Allied bombing. Note the curved corner of the Manufactum Warenhaus also recognizable in other aerial views.

This icon, called "the Madonna of the Ruins" was considered by many a symbol of hope during the painful and difficult years of the  post-war reconstruction.

Photo courtesy of Thomas / Archikey

In fact, an octagonal chapel, designed by Gottfried Böhm in 1950, was built to honour the image. A precious historical value was added to the symbolic importance of the place, when in 1973  Roman , Gothic and medieval  ruins were discovered under the old church.

For this reason, the Kolumba art society, which keeps a large collection of Christian art (ranging from a portrait of the Emperor Tiberius' daughter from the first century, to the present) commissioned in 1997 a contest in order to revalorate the church and also to provide a space for displaying their collection in an area of ​​1.600 m2.

THE PROPOSAL


Peter Zumthor won the competition with an ambitious and humble idea at the same time: the building completely surrounds the ruins of the church and in fact merges with them while using the upper level and a side wing to house the exhibit areas.

First, second and third floor

Externally, the building is characterized by its massiveness, a simple and severe composition of warm-colored volumes and thus integrates both to its urban context as well as the historic site where is located.

However, despite this massiveness, the building is surrounded by garden areas that allow the space to permeate within the urban fabric.

See location on Google Maps

The texture of thin gray brick, handmade by Tegl Petersen of Denmark, frams the remains of the old chapel achieving a remarkable integration between new and old.

Part of the success in this fusion lies in the simplicity of form, color and material that embed these Gothic-style fragments.

Detail of the door. Photo courtesy of d.teil

Detail of the back stairs.  Photo courtesy of Dorena .

Photo courtesy of teraform

Another noticeable feature are the perforations on the facade, forming a kind of lattice made on the basis of  the bricks themselves.  This effect lightens the perception of the volume.

It is however in the interior of the building where Zumthor's work can be better appreciated. The architect has wrapped both the octagonal chapel as well as the Roman ruins with a double height nave supported by thin metal columns. This monumental space is dramatically lit up since indirect light filters through the lattice in the walls. This effect reminds me of that used by Luis Barragan in the Chapel of the Capuchinas in Mexico.

Photo courtesy of  Jose Fernando Vasquez

The visitor is able to walk throughout the chapel by means of a winding passage which lies over the ruins. This is a resource is used in some archaeological sites in order to allow visitors to experience the sites from up close, but reducing the impact on heritage (as, for example in the Basilica Cistern in Istanbul, Turkey ).

Photo courtesy Jose Fernando Vasquez

Photo courtesy Jose Fernando Vasquez

Besides the chapel, the building includes 16 exhibition rooms arranged on three levels, including the area on top of the church. In these areas, works of ancient and contemporary religious art works are displayed, including some books of sacred art.

The exhibition area of these galleries is dotted with large windows from where the architect frames some superb views of the surrounding cityscape, also reflected in the polished white floor of these rooms.

The building also opens its views to some courts designed in a serene Zen minimalism, which houses works by famous sculptors like Richard Serra and Joseph Wolf.

 Photo courtesy of  Jose Fernando Vasquez

In sum, both by the use of form, material and light, the architect of manages to imbue the museum with a sense of serenity and meditation that, while it is perfectly suitable to house the collection of Catholic art, it transcends the boundaries of a specific religion to imbue the visitor with an atmosphere of spirituality away from the worldly bustle of the city.

""The architectural drawings trying to express the aura of the building in place as closely as possible. But the very effort of this representation often serves to underline the absence of the object itself, and what emerges is the type of deficiency culaquier representation, curiously about the reality that promises, and perhaps, if the promise has the power to move-a longing for his presence. "

Peter Zumthor

SEE ALSO
 - ART MUSEUMS

• Hoki Museum, Chiba, Japan. Tomohiko Yamanashi (2008-10)
• Miho Museum, Shiga, Japan. I. M. Pei (1997)
• Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, Japan. Le Corbusier (1959)
• National Art Center, Tokyo, Japan. Kisho Kurokawa (2000-06)
• Suntory Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan. Kengo Kuma (2004-07)
• Watari-Um Gallery, Tokyo, Japan. Mario Botta (1985-90)

Claudio Happy Birthday Claudio! It was a pleasure to visit the Kolumba together. 

TADAO ANDO: NATIONAL LIBRARY OF CHILDREN'S LITERATURE

ESPAÑOL

The National Library of Children's Literature (2002) is, like the Asahi Museum of Oyamazaki Villa, a building in whose restoration Tadao Ando took part, ​​although because of its size and importance, the library involved a more complex interdisciplinary work. The building is a renovation and expansion of the former Imperial Library built in Neo-Renaissance style in 1906 during the Meiji period, and expanded in 1929 during the Showa period.

Original building

Renovation and preservation

Ueno Park.

The library is located at the Ueno Park, one of the most important green areas of the Japanese capital, famous for its cherry trees, a lotus pond and mandarin ducks. It also houses a zoo, art galleries, temples and major museums, among which is the National Museum of Western Art by Le Corbusier. Ueno Park is one of the most important socio-cultural spaces in Tokyo.

See location on Google Maps

Structural reinforcement

The first step in the remodeling of the building and its adaptation to meet the safety standards of the Japanese legislation was an evaluation of the structural characteristics of the ancient monument. The computerized study showed deficiencies in several places, and according to that a comprehensive and novel structural reinforcement was carried out. Since a traditional reinforcement would have meant a significant change in both internal and external formal characteristics of the building, it was preferred to isolate the building from the ground by a series of dumpers, so that seismic waves would not affect the building itself.

The seismic isolation system of the library consisted of removing the brick basement, levitate the building with vibration lead dampers with laminated rubber isolators.

RESTORATION

The restoration process, which focused on returning its original appearance to the walls, ceilings and floors of the building.

Original state before restoration

These tasks included:

• Preservation of the ornamentation on the facade
• Restoration of parquet floors, and in some cases the creation of false floor for air conditioning and wiring.
• Conservation of the trusses and roof decking.
• Preservation of the plaster walls and ceilings.
• Restoration of chandeliers and lighting features.
• Restoration of the grand staircase access, forged in steel.

Tadao Ando's intervention.

Aside of being restored, the building was enhanced by a contemporary intervention by Ando. The proposal included glazed elements, without columns, in order to avoid any disruption and to achieve maximum integration with the historic building.
Ando is based on two glass bars, a rotated 1-story one and a 3-story block, parallel to the building.

As seen in the plan view or the model, it gives the impression that the rotated bar would cross through the building; however within the library the original orthogonal organization predominates.

Still, the subtle addition does not obstruct the façade, but creates an access with a double screen, which proves its efficiency especially during the windy winter days.
This reception hall blends with the early twentieth century eclectic monument.

The rotated volume appears in the other side of the building, defining a small but elegant, warm and transparent metal and glass cafeteria.


However, the major involvement of Ando is given in the rear of the building, where a large screen integrates the corridors of the library and affords an integral unity, while maintaining full transparency to reveal the original monument.


This screen is flanked by a concrete box containing the elevators.


Finally, Ando indulged himself with a slight use of his usual paraphernalia being located in a small sitting near the boundary of the property, harmless to the valuable historic environment that surrounds it.


It is noteworthy, not only Ando's mastery to carried out the integration between contemporary and historical elements, but mainly the humble attitude of the architect who did not succumb to the temptation to make his intervention more important than the original, but on the contrary, to almost vanish its own creation in order to emphasize the building that supports it.

Sources: Kanto Regional Development Office

SEE ALSO:

- OTHER WORKS BY TADAO ANDO.

• Chapel in Mt. Rokko, Kobe, Japan. (1985-86)
• Church of the Light, Osaka, Japan. (1988-89)
• Church on Water, Tomomu, Japan. Tadao Ando (1988)
• Garden of Fine Arts, Kyoto, Japan. (1990)
• Omotesando Hills
• Times I & II
  

- LIBRARIES

• Tama University Library. Toyo Ito